Stray Paws Animal Haven

Our current operating budget is $792,500 and the majority of that is allocated to TNR.

Our goal is to trap and spay/neuter wild (feral) cats and return them to nature. Being fixed, they will not continue to have more litters. Females will no longer go into heat and the incidence of fighting will decrease. Those young cats and kittens that are friendly will be fostered while we provide complete wellness: spay/neuter, microchip, vaccinations, deworming, testing for common diseases and any medical treatment needed.

Our success is not only measured in spay/neuter numbers but also how many kittens that we prepare for adoption. Success is also measured in how well we educate our community about caring for their own companion animals and how they can be part of the solution in decreasing the feral cat population.

With public support, we accomplish this through TNR, medical rehab, transport, relocation, networking, and education. SPAH’s mission includes providing resources and equipment to empower the community to safely manage, monitor and care for colonies of cats.

Trap-Neuter-Return is successfully practiced in hundreds of communities and in every landscape and setting. TNR is exactly what it sounds like: cats are humanely trapped and taken to a veterinarian to be neutered and vaccinated. The tip of their left ear is removed so they can later be identified in the field, and not re-trapped or sent to animal control. After recovery, the cats are returned to their home—their colony—outdoors. Kittens and cats who are friendly and socialized to people may be adopted into homes. Grounded in science, TNR stops the breeding cycle of cats and therefore improves their lives while preventing reproduction. The removal and euthanasia of outdoor cats that animal control has been pursuing for decades does not get to the root of the problem and therefore persists. Since feral cats are not adoptable, they are killed in pounds and shelters.

We have partnered with the ASPCA for more than three years. They bring their spay and neuter mobile clinic RVs to our facility in South El Monte several days a week to provide spay, neuter and vaccine services to our area, servicing the appointments we set up and the community members we train and educate on TNR. During the past year, we have spayed and neutered an average of 150 cats per week. Since our inception in 2018, we have TNR’d 9,870 cats and saved thousands of kittens from suffering and dying early deaths on the streets.

Recently, the ASPCA had to decrease the number of spay and neuter appointment slots they are able to give us, which we provide to our local community members and TNR trappers every week.

However, we are now self-sufficient with our mobile veterinary unit called the Spay Shuttle. We are operating four days a week, providing spay, neuter and vaccine services to the areas who need us most. We now have the capacity to spay, neuter and vaccinate up to 35 cats per day, four days a week. We have a team of vets and vet techs plus 75 volunteer trappers and fosters.

We are in negotiations with surrounding cities to run a TNR (trap, neuter, return) program, similar to our program in El Monte. This will decrease their cat and kitten intake at the shelters and ensure the feral cats are returned to nature, instead of euthanized.

With the new mobile unit, we have more capability than we have since inception as we are no longer dependent upon the ASPCA's mobile units. We will continue to partner with them however. We have a 75 volunteers ready and able to assist with trapping, provide support at the many community vaccine clinics we host, and foster kittens.

Data shows the extreme need for TNR services in El Monte, CA and surrounding areas. The Downey, Baldwin Park and Southeast Area Animal Control Authority (SEAACA) shelters serve our local area. The data shows that among the seven Los Angeles County shelters and SEAACA, there are significantly higher intake and euthanasia rates for cats as compared to other cities in Los Angeles.

Stray Paws Animal Haven is strategically positioned between the Downey Shelter, SEAACA and Baldwin Park Shelter to serve the areas that need the most support to help their community cats.

We TNR'd 4,508 cats in 2022 alone. The shelters described above do not have the capacity to handle the problem. We are working with LA County to be part of the solution which includes collaborating with local cities on low-cost vouchers for those in need. They sell the vouchers and we provide the services.